Wild Kratts, Season 3, Episode 5: Rhino Trouble
by ShorinRyuKarateKobudo
Summary: The Wild Kratts team receives an urgent call from a forest patrol unit in Sumatra, where they already have their hands full with illegal loggers destroying the forest. They need help dealing with poachers who took advantage of the situation and broke into the national park to go after the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros. Will the Wild Kratts save the Sumatran rhino?


Location: Sumatra

Featured animals: Sumatran rhinoceros, Siamang, Sumatran elephant, Malayan tapir, and Sumatran tiger

Villain of the Week: poachers, loggers (mentioned)

Animal names: Shaggy, Ratu, Andalas

(**Warning!:** Please forgive me for this is a little bit more mature than the usual Wild Kratts format because of the use of firearms by the poachers in this story. Even though it is not prominent in the story, the intention is to teach the severity of poachers to creatures and is NEVER intended to promote gun violence. However, if the majority of you would rather have no firearms used in this story at all, then I will be willing to edit the story so that there will be no reference to firearms at all. Otherwise, if you are age 9 or below, I would rather that you read this with your parents.)

Everyone in the Tortuga is busy. Chris and Martin are preparing themselves for another adventure, Koki is on the computer, Jimmy is helping Aviva with her invention, and Brandon is meditating until the Tortuga arrives at their destination.

"This is probably gonna be one of our most important missions, ever," said Chris as he puts on his Creature Power suit.

"Yup, according to this message, lives are at stake if we don't help out as soon as we can," said Koki reading the message on the computer screen.

"Aww, I was really hoping for a fun adventure," said Martin all disappointed, "I didn't think working with Area 51 to save the creatures would be so much work."

"It's for the better of the world," said Aviva.

"And no one can do a better job than us, the Wild Kratts," said Brandon who woke up from his meditation.

"I'm working on multiple sets of Creature Power disks for you guys to use so that you'll well prepared on any given situation," said Aviva.

Both of the Kratt brothers shouted "Alright!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived in Sumatra," said Jimmy, landing the Tortuga at the Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park, Sumatra.

The Tortuga lands and as the team gets out of the Tortuga, they're greeted by the forest patrol unit, some of which are riding on Sumatran elephants.

"I thank you for receiving our urgent message, Wild Kratts," said the captain of the forest patrol unit, "We need your help." He and the rest of the unit lead the Wild Kratts to their base camp. "Ever since the government kicked out the palm tree plantation for destroying our forest, we've been getting numerous slash-and-burns from the now illegal loggers. They were already a lot of trouble, but not as much trouble as the poachers who got in. Thanks to the loggers' slash-and-burn, as the forests get smaller, the rare and elusive Sumatran rhinoceros becomes more and more exposed, which makes it easier for the poachers to spot and kill them. Wild Kratts, because of their elusive nature, we you guys to help protect the rhinos from the poachers."

"Wow, this just gets more serious by the sentence," said Martin who's conflicted between being excited and nervous.

"Yup, according to you guys, there are probably less than 300 individuals left living in the wild," said Koki who pulls out a holographic computer from her creature pod.

"But why are the poachers after the Sumatran rhinoceros?" Jimmy asked.

"The Sumatran rhinoceros' horn is more valuable than the horn of any other rhino species alive today, probably the most valuable," said the captain, "The horn is highly prized for its use in ancient Chinese medicines."

"Chinese medicine, you say," said Chris who was pondering, "Hey Ninja, do you think Cheng, the Chinese medicine maker, is behind all this?"

"He could be after the horn to make his medicines," said Brandon, "But according to the files, he's not the type to go after his own 'groceries'. He would rather pay top dollar for someone else to gather his ingredients for him."

"It's just like when he teamed up with Donita Donata," said Chris, "When he had Donita collect all the tigers for him, he promised to pay her back by giving her the pelt of the tiger."

"So if we capture these poachers, then we could capture the Medicine-man, all together," said Martin.

"Hmm, the Medicine-man?" said Koki all confused.

"Well, with more bad guys arising, it will be hard to keep track of all their names. So I gave them nicknames," said Martin, "and besides, how can it be to capture stop a band of poachers?"

"Don't be fooled by their namesake," said Brandon, "Poachers are not like Zach, Donita, or even Gourmand, where they are nothing but pushovers. These poachers are ruthless, dangerous men who are willing to kill anyone who stands in their way. And they use firearms, something you're probably not accustomed to."

"Okay, now I'm starting to get worried," said Martin all nervous.

"Don't you see, guys, you could be putting your lives at stake if you try to confront them like you usually do to other villains," said Aviva, "That's why this is the riskiest mission we've ever done. We have never encountered bad guys armed with guns, so this could be a game changer."

Martin gulps in fear and Chris tries to calm him down.

"Think about the Sumatran rhinoceros," said the captain, "You're the only ones who can locate them before the poachers. Their lives hang in the balance on you. So I'm counting on you, Wild Kratts. All you guys really have to do is don't confront the poachers."

"Alright, we'll do it," said Martin, "for the Sumatran rhinoceros."

"Now that's the spirit I was looking for," said Chris.

"Sir, we spotted the loggers," said one of the patrol unit officers who entered the room, "They're about to tear down some trees 10 o'clock from where we stand."

"Right, we'll get to it," said the captain, "I'm needed now. It's up to you guys. All of you are the Sumatran rhino's last hope to save their species from extinction. Please protect them."

The whole team says "We're on it!" and they dispatched out into the national park.

While they trek, they devised a plan to locate the elusive creature.

"Okay, I have a plan," said Brandon, "Chris and Martin can go locate the Sumatran rhinoceros while the rest of us search around to deactivate any traps." He pulls out his chisa katana to deactivate a noose-spring trap.

"We're on it!" said the Kratt brothers as they head for the trees and start swinging around on vines to get around.

"I just hope they don't mess around on this mission," said Aviva.

"Uh-huh, you said it," said Koki as she pulls out her Creature pod, "Another thing, brothers, if you find the poachers, try not to engage them. As we discussed earlier, they're much too dangerous. So when you find them, just let us and the forest patrol unit know first and prioritize in keeping the rhinos safe from them."

"We got it, Koki," said Chris as he and Martin keep swinging around, looking for the Sumatran rhinoceros.

"Ah yes, the rainforest of Sumatra," said Martin, "which also happens to be a part of Indonesia."

"Oh yeah," said Chris, "Indonesia is made up of a chain of islands, like Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, Sulawesi, and Papua New Guinea. Each of which has their own unique creatures."

"And one of the creatures that is unique to Sumatra is none other than the Sumatran rhinoceros," said Martin.

"Exactly," said Chris, "Now if only we can find one before those poachers do."

"You know, Chris, even at this height, because of the dense forest, it's hard to spot something elusive and rare like a Sumatran rhinoceros," said Martin.

"We'll need a plan if we are gonna find a Sumatran rhino before those poachers do," said Chris.

Martin starts getting nervous.

"Martin, I know this is becoming way over our heads," said Chris trying to ease his fear, "But the Sumatran rhinos need us. And if we save them, they can live free and in the wild. Now if only we can find one."

"I got it!" said Martin, "We'll listen for the rhinos. Then, we can follow their noise until we find one."

"You're right," said Chris, "Sumatran rhinos are known for being the most vocal rhino of its species. If we can hear one, we'll definitely find one."

"Quick, let's stay quiet and listen for eeps, whales, and whistle-blows," said Martin as he and Chris listen in the rainforest.

All is quiet until a disturbance from the Siamang surprises the brothers, causing them to fall off the tree and into a mud wallow.

"Ugh, talk about peace and quiet," said Martin.

"Martin, look!" said Chris pointing up in the trees, "Siamangs!"

"A whole family of Siamangs," said Martin, "One of the largest and noisiest gibbons in the world!"

"Oh yeah, it's because of that throat pouch on its neck," said Chris, "Siamangs would vocalize to warn other neighboring siamangs that this is his territory."

"Or possibly to warn that a predator is nearby," said Martin nervously pointing at a encroaching Sumatran tiger.

"Whoa, a Sumatran tiger," said Chris who seemed to be fazed by the tiger's presence, "another endangered species found only in Sumatra. Like the rhinos and siamangs, the Sumatran tiger is also losing its land to loggers as well as being hunted by poachers."

"But if we don't get out of here, we'll be the ones hunted," said the frantic Martin, "Quick! To the trees!"

Chris and Martin try to climb up a nearby tree by the mud made them slippery and couldn't climb up.

"Martin, we need to come up with something or we'll never see a Sumatran rhino," said Chris as the Sumatran tiger moved on.

"Huh, guess he wasn't hungry," said Martin.

"Or maybe we don't look appetizing," said Chris, "Either way, we got to get moving if we're gonna save the rhinos from those poachers."

"Wait a minute," said Martin, "Why don't we turn into tigers? That way, we can both listen to and smell the Sumatran rhino better, allowing us to save it in time."

"What, but we'll also scare it off," said Chris, "Tigers are one of the top predators in Sumatra. They'll run away if a tiger approaches, complicating things further."

"But even though Sumatran rhinoceros are the smallest species of rhinos, they're still pretty large and have those horns to make them look formidable. So they probably won't run away that easily," said Martin.

"Especially if it happens to be a mother protecting her calf?" said Chris.

"Okay, you proved your point," said Martin.

"Martin, look! A trail," said Chris pointing at a trail not far from them, "and it looks pretty large."

"Not large enough to be an elephant and too large to be a tiger," said Martin measuring the size of the trail, "and there are footprints. I recognize this footprint. It could only mean one thing."

Both Chris and Martin together said "we found a rhino!"

"Let's follow that trail!" said Chris as he and Martin follow the trail.

Back with the others, they're still in a middle of deactivating all the traps.

"Boy, I wish we could do something more fun than deactivating all these traps," said Aviva using her extendable claw to deactivate the traps, "Even though it is for the better."

"Don't worry, Aviva, this is only a start in order to further benefit the lives of not just the rhinos, but all the other creatures living here, as well," said Brandon, "besides, we can't have fun with all these traps lying around."

Unbeknownst to them is a Malayan tapir camouflaged in its environment foraging until it falls into one of the traps. The tapir panics and a bell kept ringing as the tapir struggles more.

"Oh no! One of the creatures has already been caught!" said Koki as she and the others come to the rescue.

"It's a Malayan tapir, another endangered creature found in Sumatra," said Brandon.

"It's stuck in that snare," said Aviva as she tries to free the tapir, "Oh please hold still."

Koki, Jimmy, and Brandon hold down the tapir together so that Aviva can cut off the snare. Once she cuts it off, they got off and the tapir runs free.

"How cruel," said Koki, "A snare? These poachers are after one animal but are harming other animals in the process."

"They're poachers, Koki," said Aviva, "That's just who they are."

"I didn't even see that tapir," said Jimmy, "How did we miss it?"

"The tapir was camouflaged," said Brandon, "the tapir was simply hiding in the shadows of the forest so that it wouldn't get caught by tigers."

"The one thing I'm more concerned about is that bell that kept ringing when that trap went off," said Aviva.

Not too far away, the team hears voices coming towards them and the team quickly hides.

"Could it be the patrol unit?" Jimmy asked.

"No, they're still back there dealing with the loggers," said Koki as they see a group of armed men inspecting the traps. They were none other than poachers.

"The traps are ruined!" said one of the poachers.

"The boss won't be happy about this," said another poacher.

"We better find that rhino, fast, or else we won't see the end this," said a third poacher as the group heads off in a different direction.

"Better keep a tag on one of them," said Aviva as see send a flybot to attach a tracking device onto one of the poachers.

"The forest patrol unit and Kratt brothers should get their tracking signal, now," said Koki.

"Let's hope the Kratt brothers find the rhino before those poachers do," said Aviva.

Back with the Chris and Martin, Chris receives the location of the poachers.

"Way to go, Aviva," said Chris looking at his Creature pod, "Looks like the poachers are too far from where we are. So we're good, for now."

"Whew, what a relief," said Martin, "now we just have to find those rhinos before they do."

They keep trekking the forest floor until they stumble upon more clues.

"Martin, look!" said Chris, "Bent saplings and scrapped soil. This is usually how a Sumatran rhino marks its territory. This could only mean one thing!"

"That means its close, but where?" said Martin as he looks around but ends up rolling down the hill. Chris tries to save him, but ends up rolling down the hill with him. They both land into a mud wallow, again.

"Huh, more mud, I actually kinda needed that," said Martin who's then face-to-face with a Sumatran rhinoceros, "Uh Chris?"

"Yeah," said Chris wiping mud off his face.

"We found a Sumatran rhino," said Martin all excited.

"And she's no ordinary Sumatran rhinoceros. She's Ratu, one of the resident females and a mother," said Chris.

"Whoa, so where's her baby?" Martin asked and a baby Sumatran rhino pops out of the mud wallow, covering his face with mud, "Found him."

"Whoa, a baby Sumatran rhino, one of the rarest creatures to find in the wild," said Chris, "No one has ever documented a mother with her calf in the wild. Boy, are we lucky."

"I'll say," said Martin who's petting the baby rhinoceros, "Wow, check this out. Fur, like really shaggy fur instead of the armor skin like other rhino species. I think I'll call you Shaggy."

"The fur is almost identical to the prehistoric wooly rhinoceros except wooly rhinoceros lived near the arctic tundra of Europe during the Ice Age," said Chris, "But why would they need fur in a dense, tropical rainforest?"

"It's hard to know," said Martin, "No one has ever understood how their fur works, especially on Shaggy, since his fur is much denser than his mom's."

"We'll probably never know," said Chris looking at his Creature pod, "but those poachers are definitely gaining on us. We better get moving."

Ratu and Shaggy start to leave the mud wallow and head to the rainforest.

"Ratu and Shaggy have the same idea," said Martin, "Let's move it!"

Both the Kratt brothers follow Ratu and Shaggy into the rainforest, while keeping an eye out for those poachers. As they keep following Ratu and Shaggy, they come across another Sumatran Rhinoceros.

"Whoa, Chris," said Martin, "another Sumatran rhino. Are we lucky, or what?"

"Normally, Sumatran rhinos are solitary and can be very territorial," said Chris, "And besides, that's Shaggy's dad, Andalas."

"Ha, the whole family is reunited!" said Martin.

Shaggy then hides behind a tree and Ratu and Andalas start acting aggressive towards each other.

"Wait, hold on a sec," said Martin, "You guys are Shaggy's parents. Why so angry at each other?"

"Like I said, Sumatran rhinos are solitary and don't usually enjoy company unless the it's the breeding season," said Chris, "Even though these two are a couple, they'll still fight when confronting each other."

"Oh no, if they fight, those poachers will hear them," said Martin, "Chris, we have a rhino trouble ahead and need a way to cover them so that the poachers can't hear them."

"Not to worry, Aviva has already spent countless sleepless nights to prepare some creature power disks for us to use before this mission in case of a situation like this," said Chris as he pulls out a Siamang Creature Power disk and inserts it into his Creature Power suit, "I have a plan. First, we need the power of the Siamang."

"Alright!" said Martin as he also pulls out his Siamang Creature Power disk and inserts it into his Creature Power suit.

Both the Kratt brothers climb up a tree to a nearby family of Siamangs and touch an individual. They shout "Activate Creature Powers!" and press the button to turn into humanoid versions of the Siamang. Then, they shout "To the Creature Rescue!"

"Martin, go to the other side of the rain forest and I'll go this way," said Chris. "When I make a call, you respond back and the rest of the Siamangs will join in, creating confusion for the poachers."

"Great idea, Chris," said Martin, "Now, let's get to it!"

Both Chris and Martin get into position while the poachers enter the scene and Ratu and Andalas begin to fight. Right before the rhinos fight and the poachers approach them, Chris lets out a loud vocalization that caught both the rhinos and the poachers off their guard. Martin responds with a loud vocalization of his own and pretty soon, the rest of the Siamangs join in and the rhinos decided it was too noisy for them and continued on their separate ways.

"Those crazy monkeys!" said one of the poachers, "Shot them down!"

"Martin! Incoming!" said Chris as the poachers begin shooting up in the canopy.

The saimang family managed to escape unharmed while Chris and Martin struggle to avoid getting shot at.

"Good thing siamangs are great acrobats in the treetop, but this isn't looking so good for us!" said Martin desperately trying to avoid the gunfire, "Chris, I don't think I can keep this up! The siamang troop even just left for that reason!"

Eventually, Brandon comes to the scene and throws his shurikens at the poachers so that they would drop their firearms. The entire forest patrol unit then comes to the scene to arrest the poachers.

"Stop where you are," shouted the captain, "You're all under arrest. Now put your hands in the air and get down to the ground, right now!"

The poachers do so, as ordered.

"Way to go, guys," said Jimmy cheering for the Kratt brothers.

"You poachers should watch where you point those," said Koki, "you could accidentally hurt someone, like your 'boss'."

The poachers looked down in defeat as the forest patrol unit takes them away.

"Thank you for helping us capture these poachers and saving the Sumatran rhinos in the process," said the captain.

"But they said they work for some 'boss'," said Aviva, "That means they're just henchmen and there are still more out there."

"No need to worry," said the captain, "we will send them over for interrogation and, hopefully, put an end to their rampage once and for all."

"Did you say 'boss'?" Martin asked.

"While Jimmy, Koki, Ninja, and I were eavesdropping, we overheard them saying they don't want to disappoint their 'boss'," said Aviva.

"But who could they be working for?" Chris wondered.

"Oh no!" said Martin all upset, "during our plan, Shaggy and his mom must have left."

"Hey, at least they're safe from poachers, for now," said Chris who was patting on Martin's back.

"I would say this is a mission accomplished," said Brandon.

"But now we'll never find them, again, because of their elusiveness," said Martin all saddened.

"Don't you worry," said the captain, "The next time you come here, you'll probably be able to see one, again."

"Really!?" said Martin all cheered up.

"Sure, in maybe a few years, it would be possible," said the captain.

Martin's sign of hope becomes crushed and the whole team laughs.

Far away, across where the Wild Kratts stand is an operation base with more poachers, and in a tent sits the 'boss': a tall man with a mustache similar to Adolf Hitler's, wears a jungle trek hat, and clothing of an explorer. One of the men approaches him on his desk while he's drinking some coffee, looking at a globe map with pinpoints on different locations around the world.

"Uh sir," said the henchman, "we have a problem." The 'boss' stops drinking his coffee to hear what he has to say, "Our squadron we sent to hunt the rhinos, sir, have been captured by the forest patrol unit, sir."

The 'boss' throw his cup outside the tent, tossed his desk, and lets out his fury, "How is that possible!? Those men are the best we have! How is this possible!?"

"It's because of them," said the henchman as he shows him a picture of the Wild Kratts: Chris, Martin, Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy. (It was an old photo, so Brandon wasn't on it.)

The 'boss' takes the picture and looks closely at it, "I won't allow you to interfere, once no more!" He then pins the picture onto a board wall and shoots it with his double-barrel shotgun.

_To be continued…_


End file.
